THE MARKET FOR FIBRE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 439, 17 October 1908, Page 3

THE MARKET FOR FIBRE.

Prospects in America

In the present state of the phormium market it is interesting to know what prospects there are of improvement. America has taken a lair quantity of our flax product in the past, chiefly for the manufacture of binder twine. The recent depression in America has had much to do with the corresponding depression in the price of flax here. The Secretary for Agriculture, Mr J. D. Ritchie, has received a letter from the United States Department of Agriculture in response to a request for information as to the fibre industry of the States.

The writer, Mr James Wilson, secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, reports a steady recovery from the recent decline. There is every prospect of a large grain crop, he says, which will create a full demand for binder twine and consume the greater portion of the accumulated surplus of hard fibre. Importations of phormium into the United States were small as compared with the importation of sisal and Manila hemp. During the past two years the quotations of phormium on the New York market had been generally higher than those for sisal, and its recent variations in price seemed to correspond more nearly with the variations in the price of Manila. Up to last year the consumption of sisal and other hard fibres kept pace with the rapid increase in production, and a return to that condition seemed likely. In conclusion, Mr Wilson stated that his department was encouraging some preliminary experiments in the cultivation of phormium in the Southern States.